Team Sullivan's Adventures in Warsaw: 3/31/13

A guest blog post by my handsome husband....Tom

Where is the one place Sarah and I always wanted to visit and see? Egypt! This is my first blog post and I wanted to be able to tell the story of what we saw and learned in Egypt.

It all started when Sarah got a half price ticket offer from LOT. LOT is the oldest still functioning airline in the world and the Polish National airline. We had this half price offer and we waited until the last week before it expired to decide on where we wanted to travel. Why did we wait? Because we are the Sullivan's and we like to figure things out :). Actually this is mostly me but I am starting to rub off on Sarah.

It's been a really long, long winter and we needed some sun. Where else could we fly to for a weekend and get some sun in Europe? North Africa is quite close and only 4 hours from Warsaw. We chose Egypt and the pyramids.

We arrived at 3am in Cairo and were met by our private guide Aymen. Aymen comes very highly recommended. He met us at the airport at 3am and drove
us to the hotel where he arranged us to check in early so we could get 4 hours of sleep and he slept outside in his car. We planned to meet downstairs at 9am and he took over from there. Day 1 was sightseeing in downtown Cairo (Coptic Cairo, Saladeen fortress or citadel, Cairo market, and exploring Egyptian cuisine.) Ayman hustled, negotiated, prepared all reservations, navigated, and toured us through all of Cairo. What a great time.

What were the top four things we noticed in Cairo?
1) All the locals kept asking us for our pictures because they hadn't seen blonde hair very often and a man with longer hair. Actually it was probably the blonde hair but they didn't want to offend me. Ayman stood watch and allowed the kids to take pictures and told others we were not interested in taking our pictures with them. Again he was great and I would recommend him to you all.
2) Chaos! Egypt has no rules when it comes to driving. No lanes, no blinkers, and no order. Rush hour includes peddlers, people walking on streets and highways, 4 people on 1 motorcycle, a whole family on a motorcycle, donkeys, horses, camels, and beggars. You couldn't stop to blink because everything was a first!
3) Wonderful people and wonderful cuisine. Egypt is one of the oldest civilizations and they have had many people and ruling armies come and go. Their influences are still everywhere from the Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, Persians, and most recently the Muslim brotherhood. These influences have influenced their architecture, food, and mannerisms. Simply delightful.
4) Sand storms! One minute the pyramid was there and the next it disappeared for 24 hours.

2nd day! Ayman met us at 9am at the hotel and we were off to see the Pyramids in Giza, camel rides, sphinx, more Pyramids in Saqqara, ancient capital of Memphis, and we finished with a laser/light show at the pyramids. What a great day.

What were the Top 3 things we did or saw on our second day?
1) Sarah riding a camel.
2) The pyramids are amazing but not worth climbing down into the center of the earth in a very tight shaft and finding out that its empty. Enjoy from the outside!
3) I will always remember that we danced at the base of the oldest Pyramid in Egypt and Ayman took a video. The step pyramid of Saqqara is 5700 years old and maybe it's first dance.

Day 3: No Ayman. We stayed at the pool and stared out at the ancient Pyramids. What a view and we always had sun. We ate at a Mexican restaurant in the hotel and it was good! Sarah had enchiladas and I ordered fajitas. The number one food we miss in Poland is Mexican food, so we had to try it in Egypt. And, it was much better than any Mexican food that we can get in Poland.

Two important things to know when going to Egypt.
1) Wear sunscreen
2) Egyptians and Muslims in general don't drink. They don't know how to make a mojito or margarita and can't taste if its good before serving to you. Trust me they are not good but you can order beer and drinks only in your hotel.

Please go and see Egypt. It's safe and they need our tourism. The region (Israel and Egypt) depend on tourism and need our money. Tourism is down 70% and its great to see when no one is there. Once again we loved Egypt for its people, traditions, traffic laws, and cuisine. The Sullivan's will be back but of course we will figure it out!